Protector for traversing screw on microscope stage



March 14, 1950 E. DANIEL 2,500,604

PROTECTOR FOR TRAVERSING SCREW on MICROSCOPE STAGE Filed Aug. 31, 1946 2Sheets-Sheet l EBERHARD DANIEL .INVENTOR ATTORNEY March 14, 1950 E D NI2,500,604

PROTECTOR FbR TRAVERSING SCREW ON MICROSCOPE STAGE Filed Aug. 31, 1946 2Sheets-Sheet 2 8 o l-'l(5.7 44 42 I I 4 0 FIG.& 3l 5 l9 3 35 EBERHA RDDAN 1 EL INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 14, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENTormce Application August. 3 1, 1946, S.eria,lNo..-694,-37:7'

The. present: invention relatesv to microscopes and more: particularlyto. the operative mechanism for moving. partsv of. thestage of the.microscope.

- In-.microscopesof thetypewhichhave a slide traversable in the. stage.thereof, di'fficulty has beentexperienced. inkeeping. the traversingmechanism free from injuriousv material While in. use. 1 It. is; anobject of. the. present. invention to provideanoveldevice of the abovetype whichshel. ters the traversing;mechanismthereofiby a simple andeconomicalstructure. which. reliable in. use andof. small overalldimensions.v

It is another object to provide such a. device which. neatly and.effectively covers the. traversing mechanism. in all. of. its. operativepositions.

It isa further olojectto provide. suchv a device in. which. the'protective:. members for the traversing, mechanism are-1 effectuallyaligned and housed by thezslide in-thezstagemechanism.v

Further objects and. advantages. will be apparent torthoseskilled. in.this artby reference to the. following. description and. accompanyingdrawings in which: I

Fig. lis a. fragmentary sideview. at a reduced scale. of amicroscopehaving astageincorporating a. preferred. form' of the present.invention,

Fig. 21 is a top. view'on. a reduced. scale of'the. microscope stage.shown in Fig 1. with parts in normal centralpositiom.

Fig. 3= isa. sectional. full-sized View of. thestage traversing.mechanism. taken. on the. line 33 or.

Fig. i 15- av fragmentary sectional view on. an enlarged. scale of. the.stage traversing; mechanism takemon the lined-4 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 is. asectional view, with parts broken away,,taken on thealine 5-5.ot Fig... 3,.

Fig; fidsaperspectiineviewof one: of. the guard. membersforthetraversingmechanism,

Fig. l is. a view similar to'Fig. 2 showingv the slide traversedltatheleft, I

Fig. 8. isa-view. similar to Fig 3 taken: on. the. line 8.-8.of Fig. 7:showing theslidetraversedto theleit',

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 5 taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8showing the slide traversed to the left, an'dZ Fig. 10. is. a sectionalview taken. onthe line "l -I'll of Fig. 9 showing the traversing.mechanism for the guard member.

In the drawings; a preferred? embodiment of the invention is illustratedin which a base. lit. Fig; 1,.of. a. microscope of'any desiredform=supports an. arm II and a stage l2.having,. an aper ture [:26 over.which a specimen. is. placedfon examination. Substage'meansf-or'illumina-ting the specimen. are provided in a welleknownmannerby using. alight condenser. t3. together witha mirron [4; for:reflecting and intensifying light. rays incident on the mirror beneaththe specimen.

Traverse. motion is providedfor the specimenin. two. directions normalto each other by making thestage. 1.2 in three. parts, namely, a bottomplate 5, a longitudinal slide it, and a cross slide ll; The longitudinalslide it is slidably supported on the bottom plate It; which is attachedto abracket it. on the base. Hi. and. its travel across the. plate 55.is directed by a. tongue I9 onthe. slide l6. fitting. within a. groove20. on the plate l5. Suitable mechanism. such asa rack and pinion, not.shown, are. used to traverse the slide is. on the. plate. i5, suchmechanism being actuated. by a knob 2l.. For. crosswise movement of thespecimen,, a cross slide H is slidably mounted upon the longitudinalslide M3- and is directed in its travel by a tongue 22 on the slide H:fitting. within a.g-roove 23 onthelongitudinal slide 16.. An angular capstrip 24,.attached to the slide it by suitable means such as. screws24', assists in retaining the. slide i! in correct assembled position.Holding devices for thezspecimenof any suitableform such as the slide.holders ztand 2e are adjustably attachedlto. the cross slide ilin anydesired manner. suchas the dovetailed slotil'l inengagement withatenon.not shown,.whic'h is locked in place by the. clamp screws 28.

Traversing, means for the cross slide: H are provided comprising a screwmember 30 housed in an elongated opening. 3| in the slide l6 underlyingthe cross slide I1 and a nut member 32 at.-

tached to'the cross slide ill by any suitable means such asscrews 33..The screw member. 30 hasextensions 34 and 35 of reduced diameter whichpass through clearance holes 36- and 31 in the closed. ends. of theopening Stand project out.- wardly therefrom through journal blocks 38and 39 attached to the slide H5. The journalblocks 3B and 39. arespacedendwise from the threaded ends. on the screw member 30 as shown at.Miami 4.0- ,Fig. 8. Knobs M and42 are fixed totheouter ends ofextensions 34 and 35' for turning, the

memberliil; As best shown in. Fig. 6,.theguard.

member 4.4; consists. of a plate it formed. with inclined: edges. and.4.8 to the dovetailedslot 45. A tab thereon is turned verticallydownward at. 565- and. an extension. 55 having. an up turned portion 52thereon: is: either. cons structed integrally with the tab portion 50 ormember 44.

and its corresponding parts are indicated by primed characters on thedrawing.

Means for moving the guard member 44 to:

a. displaced position while allowing the other of the guard member 43 toremain in normal position are provided wherein the threaded portion 52of the guard member 44 is normally positioned at the end 40 of screw 39and is disengaged therei from. The threaded portion 52 of the guardmember 24 is forced into locked position at 49 and is held thereinbydetent 56 of any preferred form which is seated in recess 51 underpressure of spring 58. If desired, the extensions 5! and 5! of the guardmembers may be formed of spring material so as to eliminate the detents56. A shoulder 59 is provided on the plate it oi the guard member 84 inthe path of the nut 32 so that as the latter is moved, the threadedportion 52 is moved into initial threaded engagement with the screwmember 38 and continued rotation of the screw 39 causes the guard member'44 to move outwardly. The threaded portion 52 moves the guard member 44back to normal position when the slide i! is returned to normal positionby the rotation of the screw 38 in the opposite direction.

In the operation of the device and starting with the parts in thepositions shown in Figs. 2, 3,

and 5, rotation of the screw member 30 in a clockwise direction viewedfrom the right side, causes traversal of the slide 17 to the right. Atthis moment both guard members 43 and 44 are prevented from moving bythe engagement of the threaded portions 52 behind the shoulders formedat the ends 80 and 40 of the screw 30. As traversal of the slide H tothe right continues, the nut 32 engages the shoulder 59 on guard Thiscontact with the guard mem ber causes the threaded portion 52 to bemoved so that it threadedly engages the screw 39. As the movement. ofthe slide 17 continues, the nut 32 pushes the guard member 44 outwardlyto the right. It will be understood that guard member #3 has remainedstationary during the movement of slide 17 so that even though the slideI! has moved to the extreme right of its excursion, the

guard member 63 has provided a protective cover I for the screw 38which, under prior art prac- 1 tices would b exposed. As the slide I7 isreturned to its normal position by opposite turning movement of screw39, the guard member 44 will also be returned to its normalpositionother embodiments are possible and changes may be made in theform and, arrangement of the parts and substitutions may be'made thereinwithout departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in theappended claims.

I claim:

1. In a microscope, a stage on which a specimen may be mounted, a slidemounted on said stage and adapted to hold a, specimen for movement alongsaid stage, a screw rotatably mounted on the stage fOr moving saidslide, a nut threaded by means of the threaded portion 52 moving on iscrew 30. f the slide H .is moved to the left, as'in Fig. 8, the guardmember 44 remains at rest and the guard member 43 will be moved by thenut 32 engaging the shoulder 59' of plate 1 46 so as to move thethreaded portion 52' into operative engagement with the screw 30.

Suitable cooperating scale means '15 are provided on the relativelymovable stage parts as will be understood by those skilled in the art.From the foregoing it will be apparent that I am able to attain theobjects of my invention and provide efiicient means for protecting therotatable screw and other parts used for effecting relative movements ofth parts of a microscope stage.

Although but one embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed in detail,

onto said screw and fixed to said slide, guard members slidably mountedon said slide on opposite sides of said nut and above said screw, ashoulder onv said guard members in the path of travel of said nut bywhich said guard members are moved in respectively outward directionsfrom said stage as the nut moves with the slide, and threaded extensionson said guard members for engagement with said screw to move the guardmembers back to normal position upon return of the slide to its normalposition.

2. In a microscope having a stage, a slide for holding a specimen, saidslide movably mounted on the stage, a screw rotatably mounted on thestage, a threaded nut secured to the slide and in threaded engagementwith the screw whereby rotation of the latter will move the slide, apair of guard plates positioned, respectively, on opposite sides of thenut and above the screw, said plates having threaded means and beingslidably mounted to movelongitudinally of the screw and having portionsin the path of travel of said'nut whereby the plates will be movedrespectively outwardly as the nut travels outwardly with the slide, saidscrew operativeiy engaging the threaded means on the respective platesfor moving them back to their normal positions as the nut travels backto its normal central position.

3. In a microscope having a stage, a slide for holding a specimen, saidslide movably mounted on the stage, means for moving the slidecomprising a screw rotatably mounted on the stage beneath the slide, anut on the slide in cooperative engagement with the screw, said slidebeing mounted to move longitudinally of the screw so that the slide willnot always overlie parts of the screw, andguard means for protecting thescrew in all positions of the slide, said guard means comprisin a pairof plates positioned, respectively, on opposite sides of said nut'andslidably mounted on the under side of the slide above the screw,.saidplates having portions located in the path of travel of said nut wherebythe plates are moved outwardly as the nut travels outwardly in itsrespective directions, and threaded means associated with the plates andoperatively engaging the screw for returning the plates to theirrespective inner positions when the nut travels inwardly.

EBERHARD DANIEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Date Leland Oct. 15, 1946

